Food establishment customers frequently carry food home after a meal at a restaurant, order food to be picked up at and carried away from the restaurant, or take away food from a deli, grocery store, food truck, or other food establishment. Food establishments use a variety of containers and packaging methods to send food home with customers, placing food within cardboard, polystyrene, or plastic containers and then stacking, bundling, or placing those containers within paper or plastic bags for customers.
The methods and apparatuses used by a food establishment to pack carry-home food vary with the nature of a customer's order and the practice of the food establishment. A customer may order a single entrée, multiple entrees, salads, desserts, meals that require cheese toppings, pepper flakes, pickles, olives, or sweet peppers, or meals that require dipping sauces or dressings, such as nacho cheese, syrup, caramel, chocolate, or ranch dressing. Food establishments place foods such as these in different containers which can be large or small. Some of these containers and packages stack or fit within each other, while others do not. When customers order meals that are accompanied by smaller food items such as pickles, cheeses, side dishes, and the like, food establishment workers often simply hand the smaller food items to the customer. This creates many separate objects for the customer to carry and manage on the way home. Alternatively, the food establishment workers bundle the larger food containers within a plastic bag and then place the smaller food items within the bag as well. This creates one single large bag that the customer must manage and keep upright on the way home. In another manner, the food establishment workers simply place all the food items within the larger food containers.
Larger containers for transporting entrees and large dishes are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. For instance, larger containers have rectangular, square, circular, octagonal, and a variety of other footprints, and range in size from small to large. Rectangular food container, for example, are available in approximate sizes of 7.125 inches wide by 3.75 inches long by 2.25 inches high, 9 inches wide by 9 inches long by 3 inches high, and 13 inches wide by 9.75 inches high by 3.75 inches high. Larger containers are frequently formed with sidewalls within the lower portion of the container to create compartments for separately storing multiple types of food within the same container.
While some smaller food items, such as pickles, olives, cheese packets, and the like, often do not need to be placed within their own individual container, others do, such as dipping sauces and dressings. Food establishment workers frequently use soufflé cups for such food items. Soufflé cups are typically small cylindrical containers, approximately 1.5 inches deep, 3 inches in diameter, holding between 1.5 and 4 ounces in volume, and are generally fitted with a snap-on lid.
Soufflé cups are bundled with food orders in a number of ways. For instance, many delis, grocery stores, and specialty chain grocers either pre-package food on-site or have a commissary which places food in food containers. Such food establishments often place soufflé cups containing sauces, sides, and the like, inside a larger food container already storing a larger food item and then set out the bundled food containers in a refrigerated display case ready for the customer to purchase and take home. Alternatively, other food establishments often fill soufflé cups filled and cap the cups with lids prior to sale, placing the cups next to a food establishment cash register in preparation for bundling with the larger food items when the customer arrives to take the meal away. Soufflé cups are sometimes prepared by a kitchen worker, but may be filled and capped by the register worker, someone whose hands may not be clean because they frequently greet people and handle a large amount of money. Even when they are not directly prepared by the cashier working the register, soufflé cups are frequently bundled with the food by the cashier. The cashier has a number of options in bundling the soufflé cups: she can open the food containers and place them inside the food storage area of the food containers so that the soufflé cups touch the ordered food, she can place the food containers in a plastic bag and then place the soufflé cups in the bag as well, she can hand the soufflé cups directly to the customer separately from the food, or she can do something else. Cashiers and kitchen staff frequently place the soufflé cups directly inside the food containers together with the food.
When a soufflé cup is placed inside a food container, germs from the hands of the cashier or others who have handled the cup are placed in direct contact with the food in the food container, risking contamination, food poisoning, and other food safety hazards and effects. Additionally, the sides of the soufflé cup may be covered in excess food due to a sloppy pour or a leaky lid, which can cause the food on the sides to be unintentionally spread on the food within the food container. During transportation, the lid on the soufflé cup can detach from the cup and spill within the food container, causing unwanted and uncontrolled application of the soufflé cup contents to the food in the food container.
When a soufflé cup is placed in a bag along with a food container, if the sides of the soufflé cup are covered in excess food due to a sloppy pour or leaky lid, the interior of the bag and the exterior of the food container can become quite messy, requiring the customer to be very careful when he removes the food container from the bag, and probably requiring clean up after doing so. The lid on the soufflé cup can detach from the cup while it is in the bag and can spill within the bag. If the bag is fluid impervious, this creates a mess within the bag that must be cleaned up later. If the bag is made of paper or has a hole, the spilled contents of the soufflé cup can cause a mess outside the bag, namely, in customer's car, on the customer's clothes, or on the customer's floor.
When a soufflé cup is handed directly to the customer, if the sides of the soufflé cup are covered in excess food due to a sloppy pour or leaky lid, the customer's hands and clothes can become messy. If the lid on the soufflé cup detaches during transportation, the food within the cup can spill on the customer, the customer's car, or the customer's floors.
When a customer has ordered multiple entrees, the food establishment likely gives him multiple food containers to manage. Multiple food containers are difficult to manage. If they are stacked on top of each other, they can slide off or tip over. When a customer drives home with multiple food containers, while negotiating the road he may have to take a hand off the wheel in order to hold the food containers and ensure they do not spill. If multiple food containers are placed in a bag, they can become jostled within the bag, possibly forcing the lid of a container open, spilling its contents, or wedging one container within another.